Swimming pool installations are commonly provided with at least one skimmer adjacent the sidewall of the pool. The skimmer is provided with an inlet for receiving water from the surface of the pool as controlled by a floating weir therein and is provided with a suction outlet on the bottom thereof which is connected to one of the sockets of a tee fitting. It is also common practice to provide a main drain suction outlet on the floor of the swimming pool which is connected by a pipe to the opposite socket of the tee fitting. The branch socket of the tee fitting is connected by a pipe to the inlet of an external pump-filter assembly .located adjacent the decking of the swimming pool.
A diverter valve, which includes a hollow upper cylindrical portion, a hollow middle cylindrical portion, and a lower semicircular wall portion with a bottom diagonal wall extending down from an edge thereof is mounted within the top opening of the suction outlet of the skimmer. When so mounted, a shoulder on the bottom of the upper cylindrical portion of the diverter valve rests on the upper rim of the suction outlet and its lower semicircular wall portion extends down into the interior of the tee fitting such that the bottom diagonal wall thereon is disposed opposite the internal openings of both the upper socket and the lower socket of the tee fitting. The diverter valve is provided for the purpose of regulating the amount of the vacuum of the external pump that is made available at the suction outlet of the skimmer and the suction outlet of the main drain of the pool during the normal filtering of the water in the swimming pool.
When it is desired to vacuum the floor of the swimming pool with a portable vacuum cleaner, the diverter valve in the suction outlet of the skimmer must be rotatably adjusted by the pool technician extending his hand up to his elbow into the water in the skimmer. This adjustment provides for positioning the bottom diagonal wall on the lower semicircular wall portion of the diverter valve to completely close off the internal opening in the lower socket of the tee fitting connected by a pipe to the main drain on the bottom of the pool. This enables all the vacuum of the pump to be made available to the suction outlet of the skimmer. This, of course, requires that the suction outlets of any other skimmers provided for the pool be plugged off. The pool technician then connects the end of a vacuum hose on a portable vacuum cleaner, placed on the floor of the pool, to the upper cylindrical portion of the diverter valve mounted in the suction outlet of the skimmer to receive the full vacuum of the pump. Then, after cleaning the pool with the portable vacuum cleaner, in order to reset the diverter valve so that a portion of the suction of the pump is again made available to the suction outlet of the main drain, it is necessary for the pool technician to again extend his hand up to his elbow into the water in the skimmer.
This need for the pool technician to have to extend his hand up to his elbow into the water in a skimmer each time he adjusts the setting of the diverter valve is a great inconvenience and nuisance and is especially a problem in the winter months when not only is the water in the pool cold but the pool technician has to remove his shirt and/or jacket that is covering his arms to assure that they do not get wet when he extends his hand up to his elbow in the water in the skimmer.
It should now be clear that it would be highly desirable and more convenient if the pool technician were provided with a manipulator tool that would enable him to remotely change the rotational setting of the diverter valve mounted in the suction outlet of the skimmer to regulate the flow of water being drawn from the suction outlets of the main drain and the skimmer without having to submerge his hand up to his elbow into the water in the skimmer.